XVII. Secretive
Inclined to conceal feelings and intentions or not to disclose information.
Near the end of May, in their third lesson of the day, Transfiguration, something happens that drives the Chamber of Secrets out of their minds for the first time in weeks. Ten minutes into the class, Professor McGonagall tells them their exams will start on 1st June, one week from today. "Exams!" Seamus howls. "We're getting exams?" Neville's wand slips in the shock, vanishing a leg of his desk, making a loud bang behind Jayla, making her jump, but McGonagall restores it with a wave of her wand and turns, frowning at Seamus.
"The whole point of keeping the school open at this time is for you to receive your education." She explains sternly. "The exams will therefore take place as usual, and I trust you are all studying hard." Harry looks before him, seeing Jayla alone at her desk with two pieces of parchment to take notes. He's noticed that Jayla does that for every lesson, taking notes for Hermione. There's muttering around the room about the upcoming exams, making Professor McGonagall scowl even more darkly at the students. "Professor Dumbledore's instructions were to keep the school running as normally as possible." She reminds the second-years. "And that, I need hardly point out, means finding out how much you have learned this year."
"Can you imagine me taking exams with this?" Ron questions, holding up his wand, which makes a loud whistling sound.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Three days before the first exams, Professor McGonagall makes another announcement at breakfast. "I have good news," She says, but before she can say more, the Great Hall erupts with all types of theories.
"Dumbledore's coming back!" Several students yell joyfully.
"You've caught the Heir of Slytherin!" A Ravenclaw girl squeals joyfully.
"Quidditch matches are back on!" Wood roars excitedly.
"Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last." Professor McGonagall cuts through the students. "Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified. I need hardly remind you all that one of them may well be able to tell us who or what attacked them." She looks around the room. "I am hopefully that this dreadful year will end with our catching the culprit." The Great Hall explodes with cheering, and Harry glances at the Slytherin table and isn't surprised to see Draco didn't join the cheering. Ron, however, looks happier, and so does Jayla.
"Hermione'll probably have all the answers when they wake up! Mind you, she'll go crazy when she finds out we've got exams in three days' time. She hasn't studied. It might be kinder to leave her where she is till they're over." Ron comments, hearing a slap from Jayla.
"I've done her notes. She'll be fine." Jayla snaps at him, and Ginny comes over and sits next to her, looking tense and nervous.
"What's up?" He asks his baby sister, seeing her twisting her hands in her lap while helping himself to more porridge, but she doesn't say anything, just glancing up and down the Gryffindor table. "Spit it out."
"I've got to tell you something," Ginny mumbles, reminding Harry of Dobby as she rocks back and forth in her seat.
"What is it?" Jayla asks her, rubbing her back to soothe the poor girl.
"What?" Ron asks Ginny, and she opens her mouth, but no words come out.
"Is it something about the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry asks her, leaning forward and speaking quietly so only Jayla, Ginny and Ron can hear him. "Have you seen something? Someone acting oddly?" Ginny draws a deep breath, but Percy Weasley appears tired and wan before she can say anything.
"If you've finished eating, I'll take that seat, Ginny," Percy says, making them look at him. "I'm starving; I've only just come off patrol duty." The young red-haired girl jumps up as though her chair just electrified her, giving her older brother a frightened look and scampers away. Percy sits down and grabs a mug from the centre of the table as if nothing happened.
"Percy!" Ron growls angrily. "She was just about to tell us something important!"
"What sort of thing?" He coughs, choking on his cup of tea.
"I just asked her if she'd seen anything odd, and she started to say…." Harry tells her,
"Oh - that - that's nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets." The Prefect replies at once.
"How do you know?" Jayla asks him.
"Well, er, if you must know, Ginny, er, walked in on me the other day when I was - well, never mind - the point is, she spotted me doing something, and I, um, I asked her not to mention it to anybody. I must say, I did think she'd keep her word. It's nothing, really, I'd just rather -." Percy rambles, and Jayla seems to catch on, smirking, seeing him look so uncomfortable.
"What were you doing, Percy?" Ron asks his older brother. "Go on, tell us; we won't laugh." But Percy doesn't smile back.
"Pass me those rolls, Harry, I'm starving," Percy asks.
"I think I'm going to talk to Penny," Jayla announces suddenly, making the boys look at her, unaware that Percy is looking at her wide-eyed in shock as she gets up and walks over to the Ravenclaw table, sitting next to a girl with blond curly hair.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Harry knows the whole mystery might be solved tomorrow without their help, as mid-morning comes, and Lockhart guides them to History of Magic, who often assures them that all the danger has passed, only to be proved wrong right away and is wholeheartedly convinced that is hardly worth the trouble seeing them safely down the corridors. His hair isn't as sleek as usual; it seems he has been up most of the night patrolling the fourth floor. "Mark my words," Gildery says, ushering them around the corner. "The first words out of those poor, Petrified people's mouths will be 'it was Hagrid'. Frankly, I'm astounded Professor McGonagall thinks all these security measures are necessary."
"I agree, sir." Harry says, making Ron drops his books in surprise, and Jayla raises an eyebrow at him, wondering what's going through his mind.
"Thank you, Harry." He replies graciously while they wait for a long line of Hufflepuffs to pass. "I mean, we teachers have quite enough to be getting on with without walking students to classes and standing guard all night…."
"Totally." Jayla agrees, lying through her teeth, catching Harry's idea.
"That's right," Ron adds, catching on too. "Why don't you leave us here, sir we've only got once more corridor to go -."
"You know, Weasley, I think I will." Lockhart agrees. "I really should go and prepare my next class -." He hurries off, leaving them.
"Preparing for his class." Jayla scoffs.
"Yeah, gone to curl his hair, more like." Ron jokes, and the three of them let the rest of the Gryffindors draw ahead, then dart down a side passage, hurting off, but just as they congratulate each other on their brilliant scheme.
"Potter! Darkmore! Weasley! What are you doing?" Professor McGonagall shouts; her mouth is the thinnest of thin lines.
"We were - we were -." He stammers. "We were going to - to go and see -."
"Hermione," Harry quickly says, making the others look at him.
"We haven't seen her for ages, Professor." Jayla adds, stomping on Ron's foot. "And we thought we'd sneak into the Hospital Wing, you know, and tell her the Mandrakes are nearly ready and, not to worry -." Professor McGonagall stares at her for a moment, thinking the Head of Gryffindor is going to explode.
"Of course," Professor McGonagall says, her voice strangely croaky, and they look at her amazed, seeing a tear glistening in her beady eyes, "Of course, I realise this has all been hardest on the friends of those who have been… I quite understand. Yes, Miss Darkmore, of course, you may visit Miss Granger. I will inform Professor Binns where you've gone. Tell Madam Pomfrey I have given my permission."
"Thank you, Professor." Jayla mutters, and they walk away, hardly daring to believe that they'd avoided detention. When they turn the corner, they distinctly hear Professor McGonagall blow her nose.
"That," Ron says fervently, "was the best story you've ever come up with."
"I wasn't internally lying." She says and rushes to the Hospital Wing with the boys; Harry grabs some flowers for Hermione before they go.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Harry, Ron and Jayla come to the Hospital Wing to visit Hermione, but Madam Pomfrey bars the door, frowning at them. "There's no point in talking to a Petrified person. She won't hear a word you're saying." She warns them, and Ron shifts uncomfortably.
"We know that, Madam Pomfrey," Ron argues, shifting on his feet. "It's just, well, you see, we thought, maybe, we could… be with her for a bit. She's our… friend, you see, and… even if she can't hear us… I mean, it can't hurt, can it?" There's a glint of sympathy flickering in her eyes.
"Professor McGonagall, said it was okay." Jayla informs the woman.
"Very well then. But be quick about it." Madam Pomfrey agrees and leaves, letting them inside, and the three tweens walk over to Hermione's bed. Jayla sits by her side, brushing her hand through the Petrified girl's hair as Ron picks up the circular mirror on the nightstand and eyes Lockhart's Get Well card.
"You don't think Lockhart could be the Heir of Slytherin, do you?" He wonders and looks at the others, who give him an off look. "Right. Forget I said it." Harry moves over to the cabinet, takes the old dried-up flowers, replaces them with fresh ones, and then sits on the bed.
"Wish you were here, Hermione." Harry mutters. "We need you. Now more than ever. Jayla hardly sleeps." He looks at her lying there with a glossy facial expression, and Ron sighs sadly as he rubs her left hand, feeling something in her palm and looks down, removing his hand to discover a piece of crumpled-up paper from a Library book, which he carefully takes it and straightens it out.
"What is it?" Jayla asks, glancing at the paper, and Harry rushes out with the otters following him.
"Ron, Jayla, this is why Hermione was in the Library the day she was attacked." Harry announces, glancing up at them and then at the page, getting up. "Come on!"
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
The three tweens stop outside the corridor, and Harry reads from the page. "Of the many fearsome beasts that roam our land, none is more deadly than the Basilisk. Capable of living for hundreds of years, instant death awaits any who meet this giant serpent's eye. Spiders flee before it…." He looks up at Ron and Jayla. "That's it. The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk. That's why I can hear it speak. It's a snake."
"It makes sense." Jayla nods.
"But if it kills by looking people in the eye, why is it no one's dead?" Ron questions, processing the information.
"Simple." She answers, making the boys look at her to see her peering out the window. "Because no one looked at it in the eye. Not directly." They walk off, needing to get back to the Tower.
"Colin saw it through his camera. Justin… Justin must've seen the Basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick. Nick got the full blast of it." Harry guesses, agreeing with Jayla.
"It's not like he could die again." She comments. "Being a ghost and all."
"And Hermione… had the mirror." He looks at Jayla, seeing her downcast look. "I bet you anything she was using it to look around corners in case it came along."
"And Mrs Norris? I'm pretty sure she didn't have a camera or a mirror, Harry, Jayla." Ron argues.
"The water…" The raven-haired boy mutters, thinking about the cat and remembering the night. "There was water on the floor that night. She only saw the Basilisk's reflection." Ron and Jayla nod, remembering it too. "Spiders flee before it." It all fits." He moves toward a torch, showing the piece of paper, running his finger along as he reads.
"But how's the Basilisk been getting around?" Jayla wonders.
"A dirty great snake; someone would've seen it." Ron agrees.
"Hermione's answered that, too." Harry tells them, showing them the page where the word Pipes is written, making Jayla frown as she recognises the handwriting and it's not Hermione's.
"Pipes? It's using the plumbing!" He exclaims.
"Remember what Aragog said about that girl fifty years ago? She died in a bathroom? What if she never left?" Jayla questions, looking at the boys.
"Moaning Myrtle." The boys agree, and she nods.
"All students are to return to their House dormitories at once." McGonagall's voice sounds through the school, and Ron glances at Ron and Jayla in surprise, wondering what could have happened now. "All teachers to the second floor corridor immediately."
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Harry, Ron and Jayla hurry to the second-floor corridor at the same time; Professors McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, Madam Pomfrey and Filch run toward the bloody message written on the wall, hiding it from the tweens as they peek around the corner. "As you can see, the Heir of Slytherin has left another message." The Deputy Headmistress announces. "Our worst fear has been realised; a student has been taken by the monster into the Chamber itself." She looks at the others sadly. "The students must be sent home. I'm afraid this is the end of Hogwarts."
"So sorry. Dozed off." Lockhart says happily, walking up to the group of teachers. "What have I missed?" He grins at Snape and McGonagall.
"A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Your moment has come at last." Snape sneers at the man.
"My… moment?" He questions, looking at him, slightly stunned.
"Weren't you saying just last night you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?" The Potions Master jumps in and sees the look of bewilderment on his face.
"D-Did I? I don't recall…." Lockhart stutters, trying to lie, but the Transfiguration Professor jumps in, stopping him.
"That's settled." McGonagall muses, looking at the foney. "We'll leave you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. Your skills, after all, are legend."
"Very well. I'll just be in my office, getting, uh… getting ready." Lockhart agrees, thinking of other things and turns, walking away. Flitwick watches him, then glances at Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall.
"Who is it that the monster's taken, Minerva?" Pomfrey asks her.
"Ginny Weasley." McGonagall answers, glancing at her with dread; the tweens straighten up in shock, and Ron quavers slightly.
"Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever." Ron reads the message as the teachers leave, and his friends look at him, seeing devastation at his sister's abduction. "Ginny…"
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Harry, Ron, Jayla, Fred and George sit together in the corner of the Gryffindor Common Room, unable to say anything to each other on probably the worst day of their lives. Percy isn't there as he's gone to send an owl to Mr and Mrs Weasley, then shut himself up in his dorm room. No afternoon ever lasts as long as that one, nor has Gryffindor Tower ever been so crowded yet so quiet. Near sunset, the twins go to bed, unable to sit there any longer. "She knew something, Harry." Ron finally says something since they found out about Ginny. "That's why she was taken. It wasn't some stupid thing about Percy at all. She'd found out something about the Chamber of Secrets. That must be why she was -." Ron rubs his eyes frantically. "I mean, she was a Pure-blood. There can't be any other reason."
"She'll be okay. I can feel it." Jayla tries reassuring the young redhead as Harry watches the sun sink, blood-red, below the skyline, hating that they can't do anything.
"Harry, Jayla." He mutters, gaining their attention. "D'you think there's any chance at all she's not - you know -."
"Don't talk like that." She warns him, not wanting to talk about her friend like that.
"D'you know what?" The redhead says. "I think we should go and see Lockhart. Tell him what we know. He's going to try and get into the Chamber. We can tell him where we think it could be and tell him it's a Basilisk in there." Harry can't think of anything else to do, and he wants to be doing something, so he agrees. The Gryffindors around them are so miserable and sorry for the Weasleys that nobody tries to stop them as they get up, cross the room, and leave through the portrait hole.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Darkness is falling as Harry, Jayla, and Ron walk down to Lockhart's office, and there seems to be a lot of activity inside. They can hear scraping, thumps, and hurrying footsteps. Harry knocks, and there's a sudden silence from inside. Then the door opens the tiniest crack, and they see one of Lockhart's eyes peering through it. "Oh - Mr Potter - Miss Darkmore - Mr Weasley -." He greets them, opening the door wider. "I'm rather busy at the moment - if you would be quick -."
"Professor, we've got some information for you," Harry informs him. "We think it'll help you."
"Er - well - it's not terribly -." Lockhart stutters, looking very uncomfortable. "I mean - well - all right -." He opens the door, and they enter to see his office has been almost completely stripped. Two large trunks stand open on the floor. Robes, jade-green, lilac, midnight blue, have hastily been folded into one of them, with books jumbled untidily into the other. The photographs covering the wall are now crammed into boxes on the desk.
"Are you going somewhere?" Jayla snaps, looking around the room.
"Er, well, yes," Lockhart replies, ripping a life-size poster of himself from the back of the door as he speaks and starts rolling it up. "Urgent call - unavoidable - got to go -."
"What about my sister?" Ron yells jerkily.
"Well, as to that - most unfortunate -." He replies, avoiding their eyes as he wrenches open a drawer, emptying the contents into a bag. "No one regrets more than I -."
"You're the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher!" Harry exclaims. "You can't go now! Not with all the Dark stuff going on here!"
"Well - I must say - when I took the job -." The lying Professor mutters, piling socks on top of his robes. "- Nothing in the job description - didn't expect -."
"You mean you're running away?" Jayla frown in disbelief. "After all that stuff you apparently did in your books -."
"Books can be misleading," Lockhart says delicately.
"You wrote them!" Harry shouts.
"My dear boy," He says, straightening up and frowning at the raven-haired boy. "Do use your common sense. My books wouldn't have sold half as well if people didn't think I'd done all those things. No one wants to read about some ugly old Armenian Warlock, even if he did save a village from Werewolves. He'd look dreadful on the front cover. No dress sense at all. And the Witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a harelip. I mean, come on -."
"So, really, you've been just taking credit for what a load of other brilliant people have done?" Jayla sneers at him.
"Jayla, Jayla," Lockhart mutters, shaking his head impatiently. "It's not nearly as simple as that. There was work involved. I had to track these people down. Ask them exactly how they managed to do what they did. Then I had to put a Memory Charm on them so they wouldn't remember doing it. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's my Memory Charms. No, it's been a lot of work, girl. It's not all book signings and publicity photos, you know. You want fame; you have to be prepared for a long hard slong." He bangs the lids of his trunks shut, locking them. "Let's see," He says. "I think that's everything. Yes. Only one thing left." He pulls out his wand, turning to them. "Awfully sorry, children, but I'll have to put a Memory Charm on you. Can't have you blabbing my secrets all over the place. I'd never sell another book -." Jayla reaches for her wand in time as Lockhart barely raises his when she bellows.
"Cofundo!" Jayla blasts him back, falling over his trunk, and his wand falls on the floor, which Ron quickly grabs, flinging it out of the open window.
"What was that?" Harry asks her, looking at the young Heiress.
"Cofundus Charm. He'll be disorientated for a while." She replies, kicking the Professor's trunk aside, and Lockhart looks up at them, feeble once more as she points her wand at him still.
"What d'you want me to do?" Lockhart asks weakly. "I don't know where the Chamber of Secrets is. There's nothing I can do."
"You're in luck." Harry replies, forcing the teacher to his feet, still at wandpoint. "We think we know where it is. And that's inside it. Let's go."
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Moaning Myrtle cries as she floats in her bathroom when Harry, Jayla, Ron and Lockhart step inside. "Oh? Who's there?" Myrtle asks, seeing Harry and smiles warmly at him. "Oh, hello, Harry. What do you want?"
"To ask you how you died," Harry replies, looking at her.
"Oh…" Her smile fades. "... it was dreadful. It happened right here in this very cupbicle." Myrtle points at the stall she's floating in. "Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. I was crying, and then… I heard somebody come in."
"Who was it, Myrtle?" Jayla asks, making the ghost girl stare at her.
"I don't know." Myrtle replies, choking up. "I was distraught!" She floats toward the four of them. "But they said something funny, a kind of made-up language, and I realised it was a boy speaking, so I unlocked the door to tell him to go away, and… I died."
"Just like that? How?" Harry asks her.
"I just remember seeing a pair of great big yellow eyes, over there, by that sink," The ghost girl informs them, pointing at the circle of sinks in the bathroom's centre, and she floats back to the stall, and Harry steps forward, examining the sinks. Reaching up to the circular stone above the sinks, moving his hand down to the sink, inspecting the stone before him and turning one of the taps, but no water comes out. And something catches his eye, and he looks more closely at the tap, spotting a snake carved on the tap, and an idea comes to mind.
"This is it." Harry declares, taking a step back. "This is it, Ron, Jayla. I think this is the Chamber of Secrets." Lockhart glances at the sink in surprise and at the students.
"Say something. Harry, say something in Parseltongue," Ron tells him, wanting to save his little sister.
"Open up." Harry says, making his friends shake their heads, hearing Harry's regular voice.
"English." Jayla tells him, and he takes a deep breath, concentrating, looking at the tiny snake engraving.
"Open up." Harry says after a few seconds while Jayla looks at him, then at the circle of sinks; they rumble to life as the circular stone above rises to the ceiling, and the sinks begin moving outward, creating a large hole in the bathroom's centre. The group step away slowly as the sinks move, and the one with the snake carving descends into the floor with a grate sliding over it, allowing them entrance. Lockhart steps toward the opening, peering into the large wide black hole as if expecting something to pop out suddenly and inhales before turning to the students with a grin.
"Excellent, Harry." Lockhart applauded him. "Ah, good work. Well, then, I'll just be, uh… there's no need for me to stay." He tries running away, but Ron and Harry grab hold of him.
"Oh, yes, there is!" Harry says, pushing him back toward the passage with all their might before drawing their wands.
"You first," Jayla smirks, pointing her wand at him.
"Now, children, what good will it do?" Lockhart questions, looking at them fearfully.
"Better you than us," Ron grins, and the others nod, agreeing.
"Um, but… obviously, yes…" He mutters, looking nervously around, gripping the sinks as he glances down into the passage before turning around and looking over his shoulder at the students again. "Sure, you don't want to test it first?" Growing annoyed, Ron pokes him in the back with his wand, sending him into the passage, screaming as he disappears into the darkness and seconds later, they hear a crash before walking up to the opening. "It's really quite filthy down here!" He shouts up to them.
"All right," Harry mumbles, turning to Ron and Jayla. "Let's go." They nod in agreement.
"Oh, Harry?" Myrtle says, cooing at the boy, making them look up at her. "If you die down there, you're welcome to share my toilet." She giggles, making Ron uneasy, and Jayla snickers under her breath.
"Uh… thanks, Myrtle." He smiles sheepishly at her and then turns to the opening.
"Nice one, Myrtle," Jayla grins, and Harry jumps into the passage with Ron immediately jumping in after him, and she follows.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Inside the passage, it is like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide; pipes are branching off in all directions, but none as significant as theirs, which twists and turns, sloping steeply downward, and they know that it will fall deeper below the school than even the dungeons. Behind Harry, he can hear Ron and Jayla thudding slightly at the curves and the young Heiress cursing in disgust about her new jumper, and he smiles, glad that even in such a situation, she can think about her clothes.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Just as Harry begins to worry about what will happen, he hits the ground, the pipe levels out, and he shoots out of the end with a wet thud, landing on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel large enough to stand in. Lockhart is getting to his feet a little ways away, covered in slime and white as a ghost. Harry stands aside as Rom comes whizzing out of the pipe, followed by Jayla. "We must be miles under the school," Harry comments, his voice echoing in the black tunnel.
"Under the lake, probably," Ron agrees, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls.
"Probably further than that," Jayla adds, dusting herself off, and the four of them turn to stare into the darkness ahead.
"Lumos!" Harry and Jayla mutter, and their wand tips light up.
"C'mon," Harry tells them, and they venture off, their footsteps slapping loudly on the wet floor. The tunnel is so dark they can only see a little distance ahead. Their shadows on the wet walls look monstrous in the wand light. "Remember," He tells them quietly as they walk cautiously forward," any sign of movement, close your eyes right away…." But the tunnel is quiet as the grave, and the first unexpected sound they hear is a loud crunch as Ron steps on what turns out to be a rat's skull. Harry lowers his wand to look at the floor and sees it's littered with small animal bones. Trying hard not to imagine what Ginny might look like if they find her, he leads the way around a dark tunnel bend.
"Harry - there's something up there -." Ron croaks hoarsely, grabbing Harry's shoulder. They freeze, watching. They can just see the outline of something vast and curved lying across the tunnel, but it isn't moving.
"Maybe it's asleep." Jayla breathes, glancing at the others as Lockhart presses his hands over his eyes. Harry turns back to look at the thing, his heart beating so fast it hurts. Very slowly, his eyes as narrow as he can make them and still see, Harry edges forward, his wand held high. The light slides over a gigantic snake skin of vivid, poisonous green, curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that has shed it must be twenty feet long, at least.
"Blimey," Ron mutters weakly. There is a sudden movement behind them as Lockhart's knees give way. "Get up," He snaps sharply, pointing his wand at the man, who gets to his feet - then dives at Ron, knocking the red-haired boy to the ground. Harry and Jayla jump forward, but too late - Lockhart is straightening up, panting with Ron's wand in his hand and a gleaming smiling back on his smug face.
"The adventure ends here, children!" Lockhart sneers at them. "I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl and that you three tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body - say goodbye to your memories!" He raises Ron's Spellotaped wand high over his head and yells. "Obliviate!" The wand explodes with the force of a small bomb. Harry flies in front of Jayla, flinging his arms over them, being careful to protect them and runs, slipping over the coils of snakeskin, out of the way of significant chunks of tunnel ceiling that thunder to the floor. The next moment, Harry and Jayla stand alone, gazing at a solid wall of broken rock.
"Ron!" Harry shouts.
"Are you okay?! Ron!" Jayla shouts, both of them growing worried for their friend.
"I'm here!" Ron shouts back at them, both relieved, though the voice is muffled because of the rock wall between them. "I'm okay - this git's not, though - he got blasted by the wand -."
"Ow!" They hear a dull thud before a loud shout, which sounds like Ron kicked Lockhart in the shins.
"What now?" He asks them, sounding desperate, probably wanting to get out of there as much as possible.
"We can't get through - it'll take ages…" Harry replies, looking up at the tunnel ceiling, seeing huge cracks appearing in it and looking at Jayla, who shakes her head, never trying to break apart something as large as these rocks with her Magic and what could happen if it goes wrong, possibly killing them.
"Ow!" They hear another shout from behind the rocks after another thud.
"We're wasting time," Jayla grumbles, thinking about poor Ginny alone in the Chamber of Secrets for hours.
"Wait here," Harry calls to Ron. "Wait with Lockhart. We'll go on… If we're not back in an hour…" He stops, looking at Jayla, who nods.
"We'll try and shift some of this rock." Ron agrees, seeming to try and keep his voice steady. "So you and Jayla can - can get back through. And, Harry, Jayla -."
"See you in a bit," Jayla replies, smiling and trying to inject some confidence into her shaking voice. Harry wraps his arm around her shoulder, deciding to walk deeper into the dark, murky tunnel, passing the giant snakeskin.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Soon the distance noise of Ron straining to shift the rock is gone. The tunnel turns and turns again. Every nerve in Jayla and Harry's bodies tingles unpleasantly. They want the tunnel to end, yet dreading what they'll find when it does. Jayla and Harry keep their wands were drawn as they creep through the tunnels around yet another bend, seeing an open area ahead. "I'll go first." Harry tells her and steps around the corner with Jayla behind him.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
In the open area, they come to a solid wall ahead on which a circular door with seven snake-shaped locks on it, and Harry steps toward it. "Open." He orders, and Jayla looks at him and then the door as the eighth snake slithers out from the mechanical hinge and slithers along the door's edge, causing the others to retract one by one. As the snake slides back into the door hinge, the vault door opens to find another tunnel.
"On we go." Jayla mutters as they step through the vault door.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
At the end of the tunnel, they come to a small ladder, Harry goes down first, and then Jayla, coming into the centre of the Chamber of Secrets, and the door closes behind them, locking them inside. Harry takes Jayla's hand as they walk down a corridor; looking ahead, they find themselves standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit Chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carving of serpents rise to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that fills the place. Their hearts beat fast, listening to the chilling silence as Jayla and Harry hoping the Basilisk isn't lurking in a shadowy corner or behind a pillar.
Harry and Jayla move forward between the serpentine column with their wands out, careful of every footstep echoing loudly off the grey walls. They keep their eyes narrowed, ready to clamp them shut at the slightest sign of movement. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seem to be following them. More than once, with a jolt of their stomachs, they think they see one stir. Then, as they draw level with the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the Chamber itself looms into view, standing against the back wall. Jayla cranes her neck, looking into the giant face above: it is ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thick beard that falls almost to the bottom of the Wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous grey feet stand on the smooth Chamber floor.
"Salazar Slytherin…" Jayla mutters, and Harry looks closer at the statue, and down between the feet, lying on her back is a small, black-robbed figure with flaming-red hair, clutching Tom Riddle's diary, seeming motionless.
"Ginny." Harry gasps, and they run toward the youngest Weasley, kneeling beside her, but he drops his wand.
"Ginny." She mutters, looking over the girl and cupping her face.
"No, Ginny. Please don't be dead." He whispers.
"Don't say that." The young Heiress snaps at him. "Come on, Ginny, wake up. Wake up! Please wake up." While they try to wake the red-haired girl up, Tom Riddle sudden;y walks out of a nearby doorway from the side of the Chamber.
"She won't wake up." Tom announces, making them look up at him, and Harry recognises him as he walks toward them.
"Tom?" The raven-haired tween questions, looking at him, and Jayla frowns, glancing between them. "Tom Riddle?"
"What do you mean she won't wake? She's not…?" Jayla demands, staring at the older raven-haired boy.
"She's still alive, but only just." Tom informs them.
"Are you a ghost?" Harry asks him.
"A memory preserved in a diary for fifty years," He replies, and the famous young Wizard reaches out, touching Ginny's hands.
"She's as cold as ice." The glasses-wearing boy mutter.
"Ginny, please don't be dead. Wake up." Jayla whispers; while they're not looking, Riddle bends down and picks up Harry's wand from where he dropped it.
"You've got to help us, Tom. There's a Basilisk." Harry tells him.
"It won't come until it's called." Tom remarks, and the younger students look up, seeing him holding Harry's wand, and they get to their feet.
"Give me my wand, Tom." He orders calmly, but his heart races in his chest.
"You won't be needing it." Riddle replies, smirking, looking between the two second-years.
"Listen, we've got to go. We've got to save her!" Harry exclaims, glancing back at Ginny's motionless body.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Harry. You see, as poor Ginny grows weaker, I grow stronger." He grins.
"But she's dying!" He shouts, looking helpless.
"Harry, it's his doing." Jayla announces, glaring at the older boy.
"Yes, I'm afraid so. But then, she's been in so much pain, poor Ginny." Tom says, glancing at the red-haired girl lying on the Chamber floor. "She's been writing to me for months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes. Ginny poured her soul out to me. I grew stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful enough to start feeding Ginny a few secrets, to start pouring a bit of my soul back to her…." He grows less vaporous by the second, grinning cruelly. "Yes, Jayla, Harry. It was Ginny Weasley who opened the Chamber of Secrets." Tom announces, making Jayla frown, looking at the girl.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Ginny stands in front of the sink in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, opening the passage to the Chamber of Secrets in a dazed state.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
"No. She couldn't. She wouldn't." Jayla argues, standing defiantly at Riddle.
"It was Ginny who set the Basilisk on the Mudbloods and Filch's cat, Ginny, who wrote the threatening messages on the walls." Tom tells them, ignoring Jayla's piercing glare.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Ginny uses the blood of Hagrid's dead roosters to write on the wall, with her fingers seeming dazed again. #
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
"But why?" Harry asks, looking at Tom.
"Because I told her to. You'll find I can be very persuasive. Not that she knew what she was doing. She was, shall we say, in a kind of trance." Tom explains, and the pieces fit into Jayla's mind.
"You used a Forbidden Curse on her!" Jayla snaps, lunging at him, but Harry stops her.
"Indeed." He grins at her.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Ginny growing scared of the diary, runs into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and throws the book into the toilet, hoping to be shot of it.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
"Still, the power of the diary began to scare her. And she tried to dispose of it in the girls' bathroom. And then, who should find it but you? The very person I was most anxious to meet." Tom continues and moves around as they stand in before the statue of Salazar Slytherin.
"And why did you want to meet me?" Harry asks him, frowning.
"I knew I had to talk to you, meet you if I could. So I decided to show you my capture of that brainless oaf Hagrid to gain your trust." He informs them.
"Hagrid's our friend!" Jayla snaps. "And you framed him, didn't you? You slime snake."
"It was my word against Hagrid's. Only Dumbledore seemed to think he was innocent." Riddle growls, thinking of his encounter with the man.
"I'll bet Dumbledore saw right through you." Harry smirks at him, getting under the older boy's skin.
"He certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after that." Tom snaps, walking around the tweens as he speaks. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school, so I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, I would be able to lead another, to finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."
"You're pathetic." Jayla growls at him.
"Well, you haven't finished it this time. In a few hours, the Mandrake draught will be ready. And everyone who was Petrified will be all right again." Harry tells him, smiling, thinking about Hermione.
"Haven't I told you?" Tom smiles maliciously. "Killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore. For many months now, my new target has been you." He stares at Harry, who looks back at him in surprise. "Imagine my disappointment when I learned Ginny had stolen the diary back from you."
"It was Ginny who stole the diary from Harry's room? But why?" Jayla asks him.
"She was afraid. Afraid you'd learn how to work the diary. Afraid I'd tell you just who it was that had been strangling all those roosters." He informs them.
"You're sick." She growls as Harry glances at Ginny, horrified as she grows paler, then back to Riddle, who is growing more solid.
"Come now, Harry. Don't look so disappointed. Had Ginny succeeded in destroying the diary, she would have destroyed me. And we couldn't be having this little talk. And I have so many questions for you." Riddle replies, staring at Harry.
"Like what?" Harry questions.
"Well, how is it that a baby with no extraordinary Magical talent was able to defeat the greatest Wizard of all time? How did you escape…" Tom sneers and pushes Harry's hair aside with the wand's tip to show his scar. "... with nothing but a scar while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"
"Why do you care how I escaped? Voldemort was after your time." He snaps, moving away from him.
"Voldemort is…" The older boy smiles wickedly at them, leaning toward them. "... my past, present, and future." He turns away, facing the statue and uses Harry's wand to write in the air in flaming letters, and once he finishes, he moves away, revealing his name. TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE. He switches the letters around, and the tweens look in horror at what it spells out. I AM LORD VOLDEMORT. The letters fade away, and Riddle turns to face them.
"You. You're the Heir of Slytherin." Harry gasps, and Tom stares evilly at him. "You're Voldemort."
"Surely, you didn't think I was going to keep my filthy Muggle father's name?" He sneers, and Jayla steps in front of Harry.
"You fraud!" Jayla yells. "You deceive all those moronic Pure-blood supremacists that believe your drivel."
"Silence, girl!" Tom shouts, slapping her away, and she falls to the wet platform.
"Jayla!" Harry exclaims, going to her side, seeing the red handprint on her cheek.
"No. I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew Wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak when I became the greatest Sorcerer in the world!" Tom argues, glaring at Jayla as she stumbles to her feet with Harry's help.
"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest Sorcerer in the world!" He shouts back at him, growing angrier.
"Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!" Riddle sneers, grinning at them.
"He'll never be gone!" Jayla argues. "Not as long as those who remain are loyal to him!" They glare at each other when music… eerie and unearthly… echoes deep within the Chamber, breaking their stare and small, swift shadow ribbons over the rock. Flying from above is Fawkes, the Phoenix. The bird swoops into the Chamber, clutching a ragged bundle in its golden talons as it sings; a beautiful musical sound comes flooding through the deadly and murky Chamber, making them turn to see down the corridor as Fawkes flies toward them, carrying something.
"Fawkes?" Harry frowns, and the beautiful Phoenix drops a bundled-up object into his hand, which he catches before flying over and around, then back down the corridor. Harry unrolls the item, which turns out to be the Sorting Hat.
"So this is what Dumbledore sends his great defenders: A songbird and an old hat." Tom snickers backing away from the tweens as Harry and Jayla examine the Sorting hat, wondering why their Headmaster would give him that.
"He always seems to have a plan, Harry. Believe it that." Jayla advises him, trying to believe in the wise old Wizard. Harry doesn't have an answer. He agrees with her; they might not see what use Fawkes or the Sorting Hat are, but they are no longer alone, and he waits for Riddle to stop laughing with his courage building up inside him.
"To business, Harry," Riddle says, still smiling broadly. "Twice - in your past, in my future - we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk," He adds softly, "the longer you both stay alive." Harry thinks fast, weighing his chances with Tom having his wand while he has Fawkes and the Sorting Hat; though Jayla has hers, he'd not fare well in a fuel. Harry notices Riddle's outline becoming clear and solid, meaning Ginny is growing weaker and closer to death.
"No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me," Harry answers abruptly. "I don't know myself. But I knew why you couldn't kill me. Because my mother died to save me. My common Muggle-born mother." He adds, shaking with suppressed rage. "She stopped you killing me. And I've seen the real you. We saw you last year. You're a wreck. You're barely alive. That's where all your power got you. You're hiding. You're ugly, you're foul -." Riddle's face contorts, then forces it into an awful smile.
"So, your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful countercharm. I can see now… there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered you see. There are strange likenesses between us, after all. Even you must have noticed. Both Half-bloods, orphans raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike… but after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That's all I wanted to know."
Harry and Jayla stand tense, waiting for Tom to raise his wand, but his twisted smile widens again. "Now, Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Harry Potter and little Jayla Darkmore, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give them…." He casts an amused eye over Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, then walks away. Fear spreads through their numb legs, watching Riddle stop between the high pillars and look up into the stone face of Slytherin, high above them in the half darkness and open his mouth, hissing - but Jayla and Harry understand him.
"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four." He hisses, and Harry and Jayla look up behind him, turning toward the statue of the late Founder of Hogwarts. They watch the statue's mouth rumble, slowly opening.